A continuation of events surrounding the drug war and related social issues of Baja California and Mexico. Keeping an eye on Seig Heil Trump. We are still trying to restore all blogs from 2006 which were hacked by Linton Robinson and his team, famous for supporting the Baja Trump Towers on one of his real estate sites. Highlights of Paris-Simone's favorite music !!

Thursday, June 16, 2016

As the majority of us still reel after the most dreadful insane nightmare of Orlando and what to expect in the future, there was some promising news regarding an, "...historic bill to stop U.S. aid to Honduras." Here is that interview and video with Representative Hank Johnson from Democracy Now followed by the interview and video with Tomas Gomez Membreno the current of leader of COPINH (which I did not see in the major news sources of the USA):

Bernie Sanders Should Never Endorse Hillary Clinton

Progressives need an uncompromised and uncompromising champion

Democratic
presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (R) enters the Oval Office
with President Barack Obama (L) as he arrives at the White House for a
meeting on June 9 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

With the end of the Democratic primaries and several weeks to go
until the Democratic National Convention in July, pressure from mainstream media for Bernie Sanders to drop out of the race is increasing.

“Hillary Clinton Made History, but Bernie Sanders Stubbornly Ignored It,” read a headline in TheNew York Times after Clinton was projected to win California—despite the LA Timesreporting more than 2.5 million ballots (nearly half of the state’s six million votes) had yet to be counted. Yamiche Alcindor, the same Times reporter who claimed Sanders ignored history, also inferred Sanders’ decision to stay in the race was sexist, writing on June 12 “Bernie Sanders Refuses to Concede Nomination to Hillary Clinton.”

Calls for Sanders to drop out have been steady since March, when Clinton gained a significant lead with Super Tuesday wins, and several prominent Democrats subtly signaled Sanders
should end his campaign to help block presumptive Republican
presidential nominee Donald Trump. Such calls are symptomatic of the
Democratic Establishment’s coronation of Hillary Clinton as their nominee—and their disdain for Bernie Sanders, who dared to challenge them. This also illuminates why Bernie Sanders should never endorse Hillary Clinton for president.

As Glenn Greenwald predicted a few days before the California primary in an article for The Intercept, the media has patted itself on the back for helping Hillary Clinton,
the first female presidential candidate of a major party, get elected.
“But that’s all the more reason to lament this dreary conclusion,” he
wrote. “The one positive aspect, though significant, is symbolic, while
the actual substance—rallying behind a Wall Street-funded, status
quo-perpetuating, multimillionaire militarist—is grim in the extreme.”

Because of the type of candidate Hillary Clinton
is—one who represents the interests of her vast corporate and wealthy
donor network—Bernie Sanders should stay in the race until the
convention, withholding his endorsement while holding Clinton accountable for working and middle class Americans. Throughout his entire political career as the longest-serving Independent in the history of Congress, Bernie Sanders’ loyalty has remained with the everyday people he fights to protect.
In 1988, Rev. Jesse Jackson ran a historic presidential campaign in the Democratic primaries, winning 13 states to challenge the Establishment candidate, Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Upon losing the primaries, Jackson continued his campaign into the Democratic National Convention, where he endorsed Dukakis for the sake of unity, virtually silencing himself and his supporters. Dukakis went on to select Senator Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate, a moderate Democrat, and lost the general election to George H.W. Bush. The Democratic Party continued to shift to more moderate and centrist positions with the nomination of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in 1992, relegating progressivism to the party’s fringes.

Many progressives fear Hillary Clinton
will also shift back toward moderate political stances to broaden her
appeal in the general election, repeating history and leaving behind
progressive Sanders supporters and the issues his campaign brought forth
into the national consciousness.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found over three-quarters of Democrats want Bernie Sanders to have a major role in shaping the Democratic Party platform, and more than half want Clinton to select him as her vice presidential running mate. Although the latter is highly unlikely, Bernie Sanders’ influence in the Democratic Party is dependent upon his independence from the Democratic Establishment. Endorsing Clinton
would be conceding defeat not just of his campaign, but to the
corruption and influence of corporate and wealthy interests in American
politics.

Just because the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination has ended with a Clinton victory doesn’t mean there are no longer battles to be fought within the Party. If anything, Clinton’s nomination calls for a stronger resolve for Bernie Sanders and his supporters to stand up against a system that has abandoned liberal values for corporate ones.
The fight for the presidential nomination has essentially ended, but
the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party will rage on long after
the general election.

~~~~~~~~

We'll see how it goes today....and perhaps more in Congress might also consider and promote bills to end the U.S. financing of the failed drug war. Oh sorry I forgot, they would first have to legalize at least the marijuana and set up drug treatment facilities across the country.

I just now was able to put the Muffin to bed, she had a bad night last night; one of the things Dr. Slusser told us to watch for was if she started to have an inability to sleep. So, unsure exactly if we are on a downward spiral; she has an appointment for another scan/MRI next week.

By now of course you are probably well aware of the assassination of environmental activist Berta Caceres; Democracy Now has had full coverage with video and interviews since the beginning of the month (excellent coverage also from The Guardian):

Everyone is waiting and hoping Gustavo Castro Soto will be released and make it back alive to Mexico, and he just might since the State Department wants to keep their gal Hillary squeaky clean and presidential. Despite the lack of US MSM coverage of the whole story of United States once again intervening and supporting death squads in Central and Latin America, several reporters have been spilling the beans, going back to the Honduran Coup of 2009. Here are just some examples:

There has not been a flurry of coverage from Mexico which some of us naively expected, particularly since one of their own citizens, Gustavo Castro Soto is being held in Honduras (which some activists say is illegal) nor has there been a reprimand sent to address Hillary's and the US State Departments modus operandi in Central and Latin American affairs with only (so far that is) the report from La Jornada ("Berta Caceres, Victima de la Politica Exterior de Hillary Clinton") which basically reprinted information from The Nation. There has been so far no mention in the Mexican press of the Mexican officials who worked with Hillary and the United States government either prior to or after the coup to insure the coup was a "success."

end edit.

*****

Meanwhile, the executions continue here and throughout Baja California, nothing has changed. The Jornaleros of Ensenada will be marching on St. Patricks Day and several more marches planned in the days following St. Pat's. I'll be back with their schedule, have my hands full with the baby.

- I mentioned a few days back not a flurry of reporting from Mexico on the entire situation, that has changed. If you do a search for Gustavo Castro Soto, you will see many reports from the mainland of "smaller" Mexican publications and websites - here in Baja nothing so far (not a huge surprise) but we are hoping Zeta will have a report soon. It is La Jornada who seems to be taking the lead on the current reports involving the Berta Caceres and Nelson Noe Garcia murders and the fate of Gustavo Castro Soto. Still, I have not seen a Mexican report on then acting Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa who worked with Hillary to seal the deal on the 2009 Honduras coup, that is making sure the coup was a success. If you've been reading the links, that portion described in Hillary's book ("Hard Choices") was removed from the paperback edition, but plenty of people noted it.

- You can find the full text of Gustavo Castro Soto's "Coca-Cola: La Historia Negra De Las Aquas Negras" by doing a title search (pdf's don't translate but archive.org has it, however I cannot seem to link it here).

- Mike: " Hillary will never answer for this because it will never be brought up. This is the level that America has been dumbed down to - Hillary and Trump." Well, maybe. If the subject comes up, she will just lie bout it.

end edit.

~~~~~

UPDATE/edit 03/14:

On St. Patrick's Day, the Alianza of the Jornaleros de Ensenada will march in commemoration of their year ago strike where they demanded better working conditions and also to celebrate their newly formed union, the Democratic National Independent Union of Agricultural Workers. I checked the weather, and no rain has been fore casted, looks like breezy and clear skies for the four day event.

Of importance the Alianza wants to draw attention to the urgency of DRISCOLLS to recognize their newly formed union and to sign a collaborative agreement with the Democratic National Independent Union of Agricultural Workers. I also need to mention that since last year, Driscoll's packed berries have been featured in all Vons markets and Walmart Superstores and even at Sprouts in San Diego with no demonstrations at these sites (at least in the South Bay) to boycott Driscoll's for unfair labor practices. San Diego is famous for always being an anti-union town.

Gunfire is exchanged late this morning between an individual and USBP/CBP at the San Ysidro POE. Apparently the gunman had stolen a vehicle, there was a chase south on I5 and he fired on Agents from the El Chaparral entrance lanes. US Agents attempted to follow him into Mexico, but were turned back; so far no injuries to report and the guy escaped on foot, abandoning the vehicle. I am mentioning this because you might have some longer wait times at El Chaparral, it is crawling with TIJ Municipal Police. Just need to mention the zillion dollar security system where the red light comes on to tell you to pull over for inspection at El Chaparral is not working, it has not been working for months. AFN has the pics: